16GB USB flash drive has just become 8GB

[motorollin]

I've got an El Cheapo USB flash drive which was partitioned as 16GB. When I plugged it in today it appeared as 8GB. I checked in a partition editor and there was no free space on the drive. I tried deleting and re-creating the partition but it only allowed me to create it at 8GB. Tried zero-filling to destroy the partition table, then re-created it, but it still only allowed me to create an 8GB partition.

The fact that the capacity changed to 50% what it was before makes me wonder whether there are two chips, one for each 8GB, and one of them has failed. Is that possible? Would the capacity really just be reduced to a smaller, valid partition?

[motorollin]

Sorry Karlos, I'm too young to know what you're on about :-P

[motorollin]

Actually it is FAT since it is used to transfer files to a Windows machine. I'll have a look around to see whether it is possible for a FAT partition to remain valid once half of its physical medium has vanished.

[motorollin]

Karlos wrote:
Bah :-x

Surely you must be aware of the famous Monty Python "Dead parrot sketch" ?

I have heard of it, but never seen it.

[motorollin]

countzero wrote:
I don't think FAT will remain valid after half the physical medium vanishes.

for how long did you use it for 16 gb ?

maybe someone stole your 16 and replaced it with a 8 gb one ?  :crazy:

I don't think so. It lives in a drawer and hasn't left the house. It's a mystery!

[motorollin]

Karlos wrote:
People say that about socks, but we all know there's a wormhole network connecting sock draws across the world with each other as well as other people's washing machines...

When I first read that I thought it said "womble network" :lol: Well, as long as they make good use of the things that they find... That makes me wonder who could have created the wormhole network for the purposes of abducting people's socks. Obviously somebody with a penchant for woolly footwear..... ;-)